October 1, 2007

The Body of Sin

Mannequins

“Behold the Lord’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear” (Isaiah 59:1-2).

This passage shows that our sins cause us to be separated from God. While this is a terrible consequence of sin, there is another danger that is in addition to this separation. The Bible teaches that if we allow it, sin can control us. Paul warned the saints in Rome about this:
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September 18, 2007

Concepts or Carefulness?

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others” (Matthew 23:23).

Jesus mentioned two ways in which one might serve God. One way is to take the larger principles (justice, mercy, faithfulness) and go through life trying to live by those principles. The other way is to pay close attention to the smallest details of the law (tithing of herbs), no matter how insignificant that might seem to others.
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August 1, 2007

The Gospel of the Grace of God

Paul and the Ephesian Elders

On his way to Jerusalem, Paul stopped in Miletus to meet with the elders from the church in Ephesus (Acts 20:17ff). In this farewell address, Paul reminded them that the message he brought to them was “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). This was the message that Paul preached “everywhere in every church” (1 Corinthians 4:17). He preached the gospel to those who were already Christians (Romans 1:15) and to those who had not yet heard of Jesus (Romans 15:20). The gospel is the message that Jesus told His apostles to preach (Mark 16:15) and is the message that we must preach today (Galatians 1:8-9).
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May 7, 2007

The Free Gift of God

Gift

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).

Many use this verse to show that we are saved by the grace of God and that there is nothing we can do to affect our salvation. In other words, works (acts of obedience) are not necessary for salvation. We all recognize the fact that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), so it is true that all are deserving of spiritual death. But those who say grace is unconditional try to say that those who believe grace is conditional also believe they can earn their salvation.
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February 15, 2007

True Love

Love is a favorite topic for many in the religious world. While it is good for us to talk about love, John warned us not to stop there: “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18). That is, we must display love in our actions, not just our words.
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February 1, 2007

Training Our Senses

Bible study

In Hebrews 5, the writer began a discussion in which he compared Jesus Christ with the high priest Melchizedek. He broke from this discussion in verse 11 before picking it up again in chapter 7. The reason for this interlude was because there was “much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.” So the writer had to pause to reinforce some more basic truths before finishing this discussion. By this point, these Christians should have been mature and able to consider such a discussion about Melchizedek; yet they were not. The mature are those who have trained their senses (Hebrews 5:14).

What is meant by the term senses? This is the part of us that can perceive or judge right and wrong. We might call this our conscience. The writer said that our senses – or our conscience – should be trained in such a way that it can “discern good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14). We are striving to develop an inherent – almost subconscious – sense of right and wrong. This passage shows how we can train our senses in this way.
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January 25, 2007

Glorifying God

Jesus prayed to the Father, “I have glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). Likewise, since Christians “have been bought with a price,” they must “glorify God in [their] body” (1 Corinthians 6:20).

How do we glorify God? People may invent many different ways to try and glorify God. But instead of doing what we think will glorify God, we should look to Jesus – our perfect example (1 Peter 2:21). How did Jesus glorify God? He “accomplished the work” which was “given [Him] to do” (John 17:4).
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